American Journeys by Don Watson
In a series of journeys acclaimed Aussie author Don Watson set out to explore the nation that has influenced him more than any other. Traveling by rail gives Watson a unique and seductive means of peering into the country, a way to experience life with its citizens: long days with the American landscape and American towns and American history unfolding on the outside, while inside a tiny particle of the American people talked among themselves. His experiences are profoundly affecting: he witnesses the terrible aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast; explores the savage history of the Deep South; and journeys to the remarkable wilderness of Yellowstone National Park. Yet it is through the people he meets that Watson discovers the incomparable genius of America, the optimism, sophistication, and riches--and also a darker side, the disavowal of failure and uncertainty. Beautifully written, with gentle power and sly humor, this book investigates the meaning of the United States, concluding that the things that make America great are also its greatest flaws.
Don Watson is the author of Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: Paul Keating Prime Minister, which won the Age Book of the Year and Non-Fiction Prizes, the Brisbane Courier Mail Book of the Year, the National Biography Award, and the Australian Literary Studies Association's Book of the Year; Death Sentence, which won the Australian Booksellers Association Book of the Year; Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words; and American Journeys, which won The Age Book of the Year and Non-Fiction Book of the Year, the inaugural Indie Award for Non-Fiction, and the Walkley Non-Fiction Award. In 2010 Don was awarded the Phillip Hodgins Memorial Medal for Australian Literature. Since 2003 his website weaselwords.com.au has been documenting the viral spread of management-speak and the decline of public language. His critically acclaimed 2014 book The Bush recently won the Indie Book of the Year and the NSW Premier's Literary Award.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781741666212 |
| ISBN 10 | 174166621X |
| Title | American Journeys |
| Author | Don Watson |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Random House Australia |
| Year published | 2009-03-02 |
| Number of pages | 352 |
| Prizes | Winner of Walkley Non-Fiction Book Award 2008, Winner of Australian Independent Booksellers Indie Awards: Non-Fiction 2008 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |